


What it Means to Have Strength

by TrickWithATwist



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Blood and Gore, Guilt, Healing, Injury Recovery, M/M, Major Character Injury, Monsters, Slow Burn, Stabbing, Summoning, These men are going to get really gay at some point
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 11:16:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12703908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrickWithATwist/pseuds/TrickWithATwist
Summary: I could write a really serious description for this shit, but that stuff just always feels like it's trying too hard when I see it on other fics and they end up describing their whole fic like a cheesy romance novel. Instead, I'll just put the following:This fic contains lots of monster death, awkward silences, sighing, swearing, and a bearish hunk and twinkish hunk learning to deal with their deep rooted issues through one another. And probably anal eventually.I hope you, the reader, and your fellow readers enjoy my mess of a ship and my extremely large gaps between updates because I write in spurts. Thank you for giving this a chance in the first place.





	What it Means to Have Strength

"Watch your flank, dumbass!"

One of the many creatures in front of the pair of mercenaries had broken off from its murder, and had taken a longer route to the pair's right. The gargoyle darted at Kamui's shoulder, its scythe swinging around rapidly before being brought down, the sound of it cutting the air uncomfortably audible to both men.

Kamui had been too focused on the other three in front of him and Saber to notice it until the warning was out of his mouth, and barely managed to move himself out of its sycthe's downward spiral to the ground.

He could quite clearly, to no real surprise, hear Mae screaming her head off a few meters away, her tome already open in her hand, static crackling from her palms as she readied a Thunder spell. One of Leon's arrows whizzed through the air, piercing the creature in its chest, right above its heart, causing it to stutter and descend from its flight. The lightning had finally manifested from Mae's tome, leaping from her hand to connect with the creature in its lower abdomen, its body stiffening before it began to shake horribly, like a leaf desperately hanging onto a tree branch during a strong wind. The Gargoyle landed with a wet thud onto the cliffside, rolling roughly down to where their army had been only a while ago.

Kamui had already turned his attention back to the murder in front of him by then, rushing forward at the one directly in front while Saber downed one of the two swinging at him with his Brave Sword, cleanly decapitating its head from its body. 

The gargoyles, all things considered, were fairly awful at head to head confrontations; they were only a particular threat when they were undetected, when their attacks were unexpected, as they swung their sickles too sluggishly to hit either of the two. But the last of the trio charged at Kamui nevertheless, charging forward, practically impaling itself. It was almost sad, but he had other things to worry about; he and Saber had covered the back of the rest of the army, but the Summoner's Gargoyles kept on coming. That murder had been only four of the two dozen or so that had already charged at the two mercenaries, and the exhaustion was starting to get to them both.

They were in no condition to face another eight.

Perhaps by a stroke of luck, or careful calculation, it didn't matter; eight new gargoyles hovered in front of the two. Mae had already regrouped with Boey and Celica to handle one group of Arcanists, Jesse, Leon, and Sonya another. The three Whitewings were busy with a lone Arcanist deeper in the halls of the Earth Mother's temple; their only chance for back up before their assault were Atlas and Genny, but Atlas's horse has been caught in the neck with an arrow by the Sniper Valbar was currently charging at, and while Genny was trying her hardest to patch her up as quickly as possible, her nerves were getting to her, the Saint's hands shaking wildly as she noticed the mercenaries' situation. She was cracking under the pressure, under Atlas's shouting as he kept nervously looking over his shoulder to see if there was still time to charge to the two's side, under the idea their deaths would be her fault, under the guilt of being too weak to save their lives.

The gargoyles knew they had the numbers advantage, and they were going to push that as far as they could. Seven of them dived down at the two mercs, while a smaller, more lithe one snaked along the nearby cliffside. Saber leapt to his left, his shoulder pad colliding with a thud against the temple's bricks as three scythes came swinging down from different directions where he had been standing just a moment before. The older mercenary quickly jabbed at the creature closest to him, its dark green, almost black blood splattering against his arm as its claws released the scythe it had been holding and it fell onto its back, its breathing heavy as it clung onto life for the sole purpose of depriving others of it.

The four gargoyles trying to kill Kamui took a very different approach; instead of all diving in at him at once, they were divebombing him. One would fly at him right out of the reach of his blade, and then another, and then another, and by the time the fourth one threw itself at him, the first one had already completed its flight, and was ready to charge at him again. Kamui's brow was drenched in sweat; it was only a matter of time until he dodged too slowly, until he didn't raise his sword up fast enough to block a scythe swing. He knew it, the gargoyles knew it, and worse of all, Saber knew it. He knew it rested on him to take some of the heat off Kamui, but he still had a duo in front of him, both filled with a carnal sense of bloodlust only a beast can have after seeing one of its own slaughtered in front of it. The one closest to the wall raised its knees as high as it could while maintaining its flight in order to strike at the merc with a strong downward swing, while the other came from his right and swung its sickle almost like a batter would swing a baseball bat, aiming for the side of Saber's chest. That was the fortunate thing about these gargoyles though; their scythes let them attack from a distance, but the range itself was rather short. Saber's veteran instincts came in handy, as he charged the one closest to the wall, its scythe's metal pole slamming hard against his head as he severed the gargoyle in two, the shock of its features forever warped on its face as it fell lifeless to the ground. Saber's vision was blurring from the hit to head, but his hearing was still in tact enough for him to hear the scythe cutting through the air, giving him just enough time to duck under it as the metal collided hard with the side of the temple, its blade getting stuck in the wall briefly. Unfortunately, not brief enough for the gargoyle, as Saber lept forward to deliver a downward strike, grounding it from the sky with a splatter of dark green blood as its chest and abdomen were seperated diagonally. Saber wanted to stop to take a breath, but he knew he needed to rush over to Kamui's side as soon as possible. He turned his head as began to run and then

Metal connected with flesh. It went through the entirity of Kamui's left shoulder as a retched cough left his lips, a stream of blood leaving the wound as the gargoyle pulled the weapon back out with a sick squelching sound to swing it once again as another gargoyle impaled the side of his chest, right under his shoulder. Saber swung at the middle of the first attacker's staff, knocking it cleanly out of the monster's hand. Weaponless, the creature's body was impaled against the wall with a powerful thrust as Atlas charged forward on his horse, its chest physically denting from the force. Atlas quickly charged again, knocking the other gargoyle who had impaled Kamui down straight into the muddy soil of the cliffside, his horse stomping its skull in its strong stampede. The cavalier shouted at Saber to get the other merc to Genny as quickly as possible. Saber's mind didn't even register his request, his foot instead moving on their own to rush to the man's side as he helped him onto his shoulders, carrying him back to Genny at the other end of the temple.

_____________________________________________

 

It wasn't the first time Saber had seen someone on his side get seriously wounded, but it *felt* worse. He wasn't particularly close to Kamui, so his brain was having trouble connecting the dots as to why.

...

Did it have something to do with Celica? Originally, he had just taken this whole job as another chance to make some quick gold, but after meeting his client herself, he felt a special kind of bond with her. She reminded him of his sister to an extent, which is part of why he had become so attached and overprotective of her as their journey continued in. Seemingly, she had a similar view of him; back before they sieged Grieth's hideout, she had slipped up and almost refered to him as Dad once, a slip which earned her a snide snicker from Mae and Jesse.

Saber sat up straight in his chair, a sigh leaving his mouth as he looked over Kamui's sleeping body once again. It was a big relief to see him alive at least, but the sight of his bandaged up shoulder and chest paired up with the peaceful, melancholy look on his face as he slumbered was...uncomfortable. Images of when the scythes thrusted into his body flashed back into his mind. He could feel that scent of human blood filling his sinuses again, the uncomfortably warm sensation of Kamui's blood running down his back as the green merc braced himself on the other sent a chill down his spine. It hurt for him to look at, to remember, yet was also strangely comforting, in the same way that seeing an abused dog hurts, but you *feel* happy to see them alive still and breathing and just

It was a conflicting, confusing feeling and it pissed him off. He had already spent the night in the medical tent with him, and missed breakfast as well; no point in throwing the whole day away. Saber stood up with another sigh as he shook his head, and the red mercenary walked over to the entrance to the medical tent and parted the entrance open. He immediately squinted his left eye at the harsh sunlight that suddenly shone down onto him; guess he really had been in there for a while. Maybe some sun or sparring would help clear his mind a bit. Or...Kamui could start groaning behind him.

Saber slowly turned his head to look at him again, and saw the man's face contorting slightly in pain, the groaning continuing and getting gradually louder. Saber let the curtains close again and walked towards Kamui's bed. He squatted down to be level with Kamui, and began speaking in a low whisper, unsure if he was still sleeping or not

"Hey...you alright there? Do I need to get one of the clerics or..."

Kamui turned his head slightly towards him, his lips curving into a weak grin.

"Nah, I'm fine...just a little sore..."

The green merc moved his head forward to look at the rest of his body with a painful grunt. His face grimaced slightly as he saw his bandaged covered chest and arm. Kamui let his head fall back with a flop.

"And I guess I got pretty badly banged up, huh?"

His laugh was as weak as his grin had been as he shifted his body a bit with another groan.

"Not like you should have expected to come out of a battle with two deep stab ones in you picking daisies..."

Saber let out a sigh as he leaned back on his haunches.

"I just wanted to say I'm-"

"Saber, you don't need to apologize. I almost got myself killed because I wasn't strong enough to save myself. None of the blame falls on you, alright?"

"Hold on a minute, even if it wasn't my fault, I still feel guilty for-"

"For what? Not being able to kill seven gargoyles at once when I couldn't even kill four? Like I said man, it's fine."

Saber opened his mouth to speak again, but he just let it close with another sigh as he narrowed and averted his eyes. Kamui turned his head to face the older red merc.

"...look, if you want to make it up to me, then..."

Kamui paused and thought to himself for a moment before speaking again.

"Then...how about when I'm feeling a bit better, you train with me? You've been doing merc work for even longer than I have, and considering I almost just got killed? Clearly I got some improving to do."

Saber mumbled out an "I guess that's fine..." under his breath as Kamui's grin grew, and he let out a shakey laugh.

"Thanks man...I'll be counting on you then to get me back in shape."

The two sat there in an awkward silence for a bit before Saber cleared his throat as he stood up.

"I'll be, uhhh, leaving now then. Hope you have a speedy recovery or whatever..."

Saber quickly shuffled out of the tent before Kamui had a chance to respond, letting out a sigh of relief once he was in the sunlight again. Shit felt even worse when he was awake...Saber shook his head to try to clear his thoughts as he walked to the training area. This training dummy was going to get the absolute shit kicked out of it.


End file.
